(Winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize; Winner of the 2002 National Book Award) Spanning Lyndon Johnson's dynamic Senate career from his arrival in 1950 (after 12 years in the House of Representatives) until his election as Kennedy's vice president in 1960, this bestseller is the third volume in Robert Caro's magisterial biography of LBJ. Pragmatic, ruthless, and ambitious, the Texan became first the youngest minority leader and then the youngest majority leader, en route to overseeing the triumphant passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1957. Caro's biography is the study of a brilliant and difficult man, but also of the Senate, and a tumultuous era in American politics.

"These [legislative battles] are great stories, the stuff of the legends of democracy—rich in character, plot, suspense, nuttiness, human frailty, maddening stupidity. These should be the American sagas; these should be our epics. Bob Caro has given us a beauty, and I think we owe him great thanks."—Molly Ivins

"A panoramic study of how power plays out in the legislative arena. Combining the best techniques of investigative reporting with majestic storytelling ability, Caro has created a vivid, revelatory institutional history as well as a rich hologram of Johnson's character…. He seems to have perfectly captured and understood Johnson’s capacity for greatness."—NYTimes